Composing Greatness: #6.The Freshman Class of the 2010's - "Her" (2013)

Scene from Her (2013)

Welcome to Composing Greatness: a column dedicated to exploring the work of film composers. This will specifically focus on the films that earned them Oscar nominations while exploring what makes it so special. This will be broken down into a look at the overall style, interesting moments within the composition, and what made the score worth nominating in the first place. This will also include various subcategories where I will rank the themes of each film along with any time that the composer actually wins. This is a column meant to explore a side of film that doesn't get enough credit while hopefully introducing audiences to an enriched view of more prolific composers' work. This will only cover scores/songs that are compiled in an easily accessible format (so no extended scores will be considered). Join me every Sunday as I cover these talents that if you don't know by name, you recognize by sound.

Series Composer: Will Butler & Owen Pallett

Entry: Her (2013)

Collaborators (If Available): N/A

Nomination: Best Original Score

Did They Win: No

Other Nominees:
Best Original Score
-Gravity (Steven Price)*winner
-Her (Will Butler & Owen Pallett)
-Philomena (Alexandre Desplat)
-Saving Mr. Banks (Thomas Newman)

Additional Information

This is to help provide perspective of where each composer is in their Oscar-nominated life as it related to the current entry.

Oscar Nomination: 1

Oscar Wins: 0

Track List

1. "Sleepwalker"
2. "Milk & Honey"
3. "Loneliness #3 (Night Talking)"
4. "Divorce Papers"
5. "Morning Talk/Supersymmetry"
6. "Some Other Place"
7. "Song on the Beach"
8. "Loneliness #4 (Other People's Letters)"
9. "Owl"
10. "Photograph"
11. "Milk & Honey (Alan Watts & 641)"
12. "We're All Leaving"
13. "Dimensions"

Note: Listen to here.

Exploring the Music

The area of the column where I will explore the music in as much detail as I see fit for each entry.

Theme Exploration:

"Sleepwalker"

In what may be this decade's most unconventional and exciting score, Will Butler and Owen Pallett of The Arcade Fire have created a whimsical and melancholic score. As the beautiful melody plays, there's a sense of distortion, of a dark cloud hanging off in the distance. It's a sadness that informs the unique instrumentation and fills this film with a life that only Spike Jonze could properly fill it with. It plays with craft in a way that is staggering, reflecting a future of film composition in the process. It's so much fun to see how it follows all of the rules while performing an evolution that is just as unexpected as many of the staggering architectural selections in this film.

Interesting Standout:
"Morning Talk/Supersymmetry"

While almost every track has a different way that it stands out, what makes this one special is how it slowly builds to the second half. During the second half, it becomes a bit more exciting, performing a melody that is, as the title suggests, symmetrical and reflects a growth in balance that is clever musically. It's the balance of the film's more melancholic halfs and the slow rise in optimism that forms in the back half. It's beautiful and reflects what Butler and Pallett do so well here.

Best Moment:
"Divorce Papers"

In what is possibly the most conventional track on the entire soundtrack, this is a look into something more adult and human. Beyond all of the artifice that surrounds the score is this simple, sincere piano melody that guides the characters through the most melancholic point in the film. A divorce is never easy, and hearing it play out through music is just as heartbreaking. The music allows the listener to focus in on the action, even as it plays in silence. It's poignant and allows the moment to resonate in a way that establishes it as one of the best moments in the film and one of the smartest moments of pulling back in the film's entire score.

Did This Deserve an Oscar Nomination?:
Yes

Despite an instrumental pallet that goes all over the place, this is another exciting selection in the vein of The Social Network or Life of Pi that plays with craft to find something new in the world of movie scores. As a result, it's the most eccentric, emotional piece of music that fits the unexpected gem that is Jonze's film. It's so much fun to unravel and live in it, presenting an outsider nature that is looking for as much meaning as the characters. It's a worthwhile nominee and one of the exemplary examples of how the 2010's were in deed a great time for the category and a sign of where things will hopefully go in the near future. 

Up Next: Best Original Score - Gary Yershon, Mr. Turner (2013)

Best Theme

A ranking of all themes composed by The Freshman Class of the 2010's.

1. Trent Reznor & Atticus Ross: "Hand Covers Bruise" - The Social Network (2010)
2. John Powell: "This is Berk" - How to Train Your Dragon (2010)
3. Mychael Danna: "Piscine Molitar Patel" - Life of Pi (2012)
4. Will Butler & Owen Pallett: "Sleepwalker" - Her (2013)
5. Ludovic Bource: "The Artist Overture" - The Artist (2011)
6. Steven Price: "Above Earth" - Gravity (2013)